Perhaps this has happened to you. A client has had perhaps a hundred journalists (in the US and abroad) sign a non-disclosure agreement to prevent the media from reporting a story in advance of the official launch date. In exchange for signing the NDA, the reporters got more access to privileged information in advance about the upcoming news (images, interviews with key company parties, press releases, PowerPoint, etc.).

Then, your worst nightmare becomes reality. One of those reporters, misreading the embargo date, publishes the story online in advance of the embargo date. Your client calls you as soon as the Google Alert hits his BlackBerry and being a PR professional you follow up with the unfortunate reporter and ask her to take the news off the site. The reporter explains that she feels horrible about the mistake – it was the web team who mistakenly posted the news – and she takes immediate action to take it down. “Phew!” you say to yourself. “I was able to save the day. Now hopefully no one saw the leaked news.”

Yeah, right. In our online world, the spread of news moves faster than a California wildfire. In that brief hosting of leaked news online, other news sites that monitor for your client were also alerted, and then moved swiftly to grab that content and post it on their own sites. After all, they weren’t briefed under NDA, so for all they know they’re just circulating news they didn’t get via your press release. By this point, all of the reporters that signed NDAs are asking themselves if they should post the news or wait until the date and time on the legal form they signed comes to pass.

Then your client calls requesting that you approach all of the sites that have posted the news in advance. If you have relationships with the sites, they’ll understand and probably take the news down. But what happens if they’re a blog? If they’re a blog they may reply: “As we were not briefed on the topic and didn’t sign an NDA we can’t in good faith remove a story that’s now or was public. I think it’s best for all parties involved to learn from this mistake and to move on.”

Universally, I have found bloggers to hold NDAs and embargos in disdain. These official marketing tools don’t jibe with their generally snarky attitude. One part of me understands this. After all, we read blogs precisely because they are snarky, opinionated and anti-authority. And they want to get a scoop just like any journalist. On the other hand, PR practitioners provide special access to their clients for a reason: to ensure that the story is told correctly. Without that access, the bloggers can only speculate on what others have reported, rather than report facts.

What’s a PR flak to do? It’s impossible to brief everyone in advance so they’re ready to go live with news at the right time. Some sites won’t even sign an NDA if you want them to. And rarely does a company take any sort of legal action against a reporter who breaks an embargo – they don’t want to sour the relationship and they understand that mistakes can (and will) happen.

I’m not writing that we should abandon the process of getting reporters to sign NDA forms just because they’re not usually enforced and we can’t get the world to sign an NDA. If only one or two sites leak news, then they’re not really diminishing the big bang on launch day. And once a reporter has signed an NDA, they traditionally respect them. But never expect a blogger to hold to an embargo date (unless you have a great relationship and they’ve signed an NDA) or to remove leaked news. What you can expect is that the second something is on the Internet, it’s there to stay. As long as bloggers treat the marketing process with disdain, they will continue to miss out on full pre-announcement briefings. And, the likely outcome of being shunned by the very companies they should be courting.  

I think today’s post was meant to be. I was looking at some of my favorite Web sites for inspiration and came across this post on CoolBusinessIdeas.com about a product that can increase creativity. An Australian scientist has developed a thinking cap that zaps the left side of the brain with magnetic pulses. In the trials, some participants showed increased levels of awareness and creativity.

*Image courtesy of CoolBusinessIdeas.com

So the next time you’re struggling in a brainstorm, or are working to develop an attention-getting, non-traditional PR campaign, maybe you should slip on your thinking cap for a quick zap of insta-creativity. Because who wouldn’t want to look like this at the office:

*Image courtesy of Engadget.com

Posted in relentless, Uncategorized   Tagged: Creativity, non-traditional, Thinking cap, trend    ]]> http://relentlesspr.com/2008/10/21/how-to-spark-creativity-literally/feed/ kathleenmoriarty Kathleen Moriarty thinkingcap hairnet425 http://relentlesspr.com/2008/10/15/rss-really-simple-stupid/ http://relentlesspr.com/2008/10/15/rss-really-simple-stupid/#comments Wed, 15 Oct 2008 19:33:18 +0000 bourneidentity http://relentlesspr.wordpress.com/?p=426

You are not stupid. You are smart. I am stupid.

I say this because for a long time I was using Really Simple Syndication (RSS) and I didn’t know it. I have a Google gmail account because I grew tired of my Hotmail address at about the same time they started asking for money for more storage. Also, I thought that “@hotmail” was kind of amateurish, along with my “@yahoo” address. I am neither a Bill Gates fan nor a Yahoo, and I wanted to be elitist, eat arugula, and show my love of Google.

Gmail got me to start using iGoogle, a service for those with gmail accounts to have a customizable landing page. My iGoogle site gives me what regular Google.com gives me, but it also enables me to display widgets (the weather, a world clock, my horoscope) and news items of my choosing (Slate, The Onion, Politico, New York Times, Newsweek). Grabbing the top stories from the publications that I read is very easy with iGoogle, and because my iGoogle page is my homepage in my browser, I am up to speed on all major global news that I care about.

Then, after years of envying my friends and colleagues, I bought an iPod. Not a touch — I’m not that tricked out yet. And I started using iTunes to download podcasts for free (National Public Radio’s “This American Life” is one of my favorites). The iTunes interface easily helped me find free podcasts and subscribe to them so I can listen to podcasts and view videos whenever I like.

OK, so as I was using iGoogle and iTunes, I didn’t realize that subscribing to news, podcasts and videos was only possible because of RSS. (Like I said, I was stupid.) But I want you all to know that I am getting smarter. I’ve even started to use RSS to get news updates in my Outlook email folders.

If you practice PR and you haven’t gotten into RSS yet then now is the time. If you’re relying on Google alerts to get news about your clients and their competitors, that’s great. But what if you want to read the latest articles as they come online from your target publications? In that case, you can either set up an iGoogle account, or you can do what I have done with Outlook.

First, do some web searches and find the publications, sections of publications, blogs, or whatever you want to read on a regular basis. Then, in Internet Explorer click on this symbol:

When you click on that symbol (sometimes called the RSS Chicklet) you will see an address pop up for a new URL in your web browser window. Copy that URL (control C).

Now, start your Outlook email program and do the following:

1. On the Tools menu, click Account Settings.
2. On the RSS Feeds tab, click New.
3. In the New RSS Feed dialog box, type or press CTRL+V to paste the URL of the RSS Feed. For example, http://www.example.com/feed/main.xml.
4. Click Add.
5. Click OK.
   
Now, you will begin to see in your Outlook Mail Folders articles popping up under the RSS Chicklet folder. Those new RSS feeds you’ve subscribed to will be filled up with news that you care about the minute the news is posted to the Internet.

If you care about getting news from the outlets, reporters or bloggers you track, then you have to try setting up RSS feeds in Outlook.

Now, you probably feel a whole lot smarter…I would love to hear how it’s working for you.

Recently, in an e-mail from HARO, I saw an inquiry about people who have tattoos of their favorite brands. The inquiry made me smile because months ago one of my colleagues brought up this idea, saying she believed it would become the next trend in demonstrating brand loyalty.

In a recent article in Fortune magazine, J. Crew’s CEO stated he believes there will be a departure from the branding trend and a return to simplicity. Perhaps this is true with clothing: people currently display brands on their clothing, cars and accessories, and are running out of empty space – a natural next step is to get a brand’s logo tattooed on your body, right?!

Getting a tattoo of a brand’s logo is the ultimate demonstration of brand devotion. Yet this is not a new idea: Harley Davidson loyalists have been getting the brand’s tattoos for years and the rest of the world is finally catching up. This taps into a sociological phenomenon called social cohesion. Social cohesion refers to developing communities of people who share similar ideas, values, beliefs and norms. Today, brand tattoos are a permanent and physical way to show one’s allegiance to a particular group.

43% of women say they have fallen in love with a brand. It’d be interesting to see what percent of these women have displayed their love via permanent ink.

How far will you go to demonstrate your brand loyalty? What can your brand do to create such deep and lasting relationships with its consumers that they are inspired to tattoo your logo on their bodies?

Image shared by LJ Fox III

Image shared by BellaSugar

The very first post I made to this blog was about my old friend Tom Anderson, co-founder of MySpace. We were in a band together in college and I really admire all that he’s been able to accomplish with his social network. He’s taking it into new territory and putting music at the forefront, which is his true passion as a veritable walking encyclopedia of arcane musical trivia (Ringo – throw me a banana!). Don’t ask.

So that’s why I’m concerned about MySpace and Facebook. Are they losing their cache? In a recent PC World article on the “10 Most Overrated Products” Facebook loses to Multiply.com and reporter Darren Gladstone quips that Facebook has “free applications of dubious value, plus scores of plug-ins and games that draw you deeper into the Facebook rabbit hole until you’re spending hours a day befriending complete strangers with whom you have nothing in common beyond a shared love of Raisin Bran.”

And Mediaweek recently rated the Digital Hot List 2008, and MySpace wasn’t even listed. What’s going on? Is social media tanking? I don’t think so. What I think is happening is that more people are trying sites like Ning.com to build their own social media sites where they can grow their own communities on the Internet.

Haven’t heard of Ning? I read a brilliant article on Ning in Fast Company earlier this year and I began using the site. Basically, it enables anyone with minimal knowledge of website design to create an online social network. That network can be open to everyone or closed and open to members by invitation only. The level of customization is awesome. Post videos and still images, blog, chat in real time, or create forums – most of what you can do with Facebook or MySpace is available, but you are essentially creating your own Facebook or MySpace with Ning serving as the backbone.

Marketers who have tried and failed to leverage social networking sites should pay attention to Ning because it provides the tools (at free or very low cost) to create a community with shared interests online. And it’s very cool. If Tom can create an empire like MySpace, you can create YourSpace with Ning. Let me know if you’ve played around with Ning and how it’s working for you.

There are too many blogs.

I say this with neither good nor bad overtones. If you are interested in macramé, LOST, Borat, Chinese gymnasts, or any one of the presidential candidates, there is a blog for you. Certainly this citizen journalism poses a threat to mainstream media, and that’s why CNN is now Twittering and featuring iReports from Joey and Jane Sixpack.

And it stands to reason why there is a proliferation of blogs – we Americans are obsessed with ourselves. How else can we explain the impulse to put our most private thoughts, videos, up on the Internet for millions to see?  Twitter enables the truly self-obsessed to post about their lives – tweet – minute by minute.

Never mind if these tweets are actually factual. You can have a lot of fun at your friends’ expense by making up tweets: “Michael is now doing macramé with Borat, some Chinese acrobats and Sarah Palin in Honolulu.” 09:30 AM October 1, 2008 from web

That’s the fun of blogs. It’s mostly opinion and rarely fact (It’s what we want). What would happen if someone was writing fiction about you? Or writing fiction about your brand? Or, if not fiction, then something mean. Finding those tweets, videos, flickr images, and blog posts online, and sifting through them to find the really juicy ones, would be very time consuming.

I’ve recently started using Radian6, which provides me with an omniscient view on all of the chatter in the online world with a cool interface. I like Panera’s sandwiches and Chipotle’s burritos, so I decided to evaluate the level of online chatter about these brands. Panera had more than twice as many posts as Chipotle in the past 30 days, and I was able to see when there were spikes in posting activity that mentioned these brands (see the graphic below). I was able to drill down and read the posts that connect Panera with things that are part of the company’s DNA, like freshness. I was able to see what people who visit these chains actually think about the company.

While reading all of this content, I felt like I was listening to trees falling in the woods. These desperate souls, all intent on sharing their every thought with friends and random strangers, were being seen by me. If I felt like it, I could have made comments on their posts and tell them that I too like the Frontega Chicken hot panini. Like some sort of deity, I could answer their prayers to be heard, or I could just listen in and move on. If I worked for Panera, I could have given those who wrote favorable reviews a coupon to buy more sandwiches. Now, that would certainly be playing God.

I’d like to know if you think that there’s a value in hearing what the great unwashed masses think, or if the taste-makers in the mainstream media are the only ones that matter. And, given that a blog post’s value is mostly measurable by how frequently people comment on any given post, should we care about a blog post on which no one comments? And, if a tree falls in the woods, does it make a sound?

You know someone’s right on the money when it hurts so much you cringe from embarrassment.  That’s how I felt when I read Mark Cregar’s Ad Age piece this morning. He talks about the five biggest digital marketing clichés and I couldn’t agree more. 

I’ve been in countless meetings where any and all of these ideas are suggested.  How many times can we (that’s the royal we) say “user-generated content” in one meeting?  Or, ask the general – what can we do on Facebook with (insert name) client?  Don’t get me wrong.  I understand the value of these digital tactics – for certain clients.  Just because social networking has been wildly successful for some companies - doesn’t mean it will work for others.  And even worse than getting lackluster results is pushing a client into this space who isn’t ready, or for whom it doesn’t make sense.   

Sometimes in our excitement to play with the shiny new toy, we lose our objectivity.  After all, isn’t that why clients hire us?  The value we bring is our ability to analyze all the potential approaches and solutions, old and new, to a client’s business challenge.  As PR consultants, our role is to clarify the various options to our clients – how they work and which are the right ones to generate the best results. 

As online tools like search engines and social media have become more mainstream, a growing number of consumers look beyond traditional media when it comes to learning about products and services. This trend has created a big opportunity for companies to speak directly with consumers instead of having to rely solely on media gatekeepers to share their messages.

Search Engines are a PR Pro’s Best Friend
No offense to dog lovers, but search engines have become a PR pro’s best friend. Why?

• 88 percent of internet users said search engine results are a factor that drive them to visit a web site. (Deloitte and Harrison Group, Jan. 2008)

• 78 percent of consumers with internet access said they now use the internet to find a local business more than they did two years ago. (WebVisible and Nielsen/NetRatings report, Oct. 2007)

• 74 percent of internet users turn to search engines to find local business information - the #1 source used. Print Yellow pages come in second at 65 percent. (WebVisible and Nielsen/NetRatings Report, Oct. 2007)

• 48 percent of consumers are prompted to conduct online searches because of news articles they’ve read. (BIGresearch’s Simultaneous Media Survey 10, August 2007)

Press releases can be search-engine optimized using keywords that consumers are using to search for solutions to a particular need on Google or Google News – such as “high-speed internet providers” and “discount name brand fashion.” Drafting news releases with important keywords in mind can help raise your release’s ranking with Google searches, which makes it more likely to get clicked on and read directly by consumers.

Corporate Newsroom as a Hub, Not a Destination
The social aspect of social media gives brands the opportunity to increase their visibility by creating easy ways for its advocates to share its news and messages with their own connections. To do that, you have to think about creating content for journalists AND consumers.

One way brands can take advantage of the sharing nature of consumers is to think about its online newsroom as a hub instead of a destination. Ford, for example, has done an amazing job of creating a newsroom that enables its advocates to help spread news for each of its major vehicle launches.

Some of the features companies can include in a consumer-friendly newsroom are downloadable high-resolution photos and embeddable videos for bloggers, quotes from executives, social bookmarking buttons, links to additional online conversations about the brand, fleshed out story/blog post angles, the option for visitors to subscribe to future news by RSS and more. This creates a place for consumers and advocates – in addition to journalists - to gather information and pass it on to others.

Traditional Media Relations Isn’t Dead. It’s Evolved.
Traditional media is as important as it has ever been in the past. But to continue growing our clients’ businesses in today’s marketplace, PR pros will need to understand how they can also reach out directly to consumers and show up where and when they need our clients’ products and services.

What other ways can we build relationships with consumers that add value to their lives and to our brands? How else can we empower advocates to help tell their friends about the product of service they just have to try?

In late July, Aaron Uhrmacher, posted 35+ Examples of Corporate Social Media in Action at Mashable Social Networking News. I’ve been meaning to write about this post for awhile now.

This is an extremely valuable collection of stories you may find very helpful in sharing with clients and prospects. Most of us have few examples, if any that we can share, of how companies have used social media to their benefit. What’s more, this post offers a wonderful range of ways companies used it to underscore their particular brand.

If you have clients who are hesitant about engaging in social media, send them the link. No pressure, just send it as an FYI and see how they respond. For the PR agency pros out there, read the examples, commit your favorites to memory, and use them to illustrate your point the next time you’re speaking to a prospect or client about social media. Finally, and arguably most important of all, send this link to your colleagues and schedule a brown bag lunch to discuss the content, identify your favorites, and shape your own point of view.

What are your favorites?

Cross-posted from Client Serivce Insights…(CSI/Season 2)

I have been told by many PR professionals that if it a story makes the New York Times then it has reached critical mass.  With that said, today’s story is that of “The Age of Awareness.”

If you haven’t read it yet, the New York Times has it on their website (free registration required) or the author’s website has posted it as well.  Clive Thompson is a regular contributor to both the New York Times and Wired magazine and is well known within the technology and science sectors.

To summarize the article as briefly as possible: Social Networking makes us more peripherally aware of all our contacts (close or otherwise) without having to exert as much mental effort.  Mr. Thompson calls this “ambient awareness.”

As he notes in the article, when Facebook first came out, it still required users to visit each one of their friend’s pages individually until the Newsfeed came along and aggregated all the changes in their network on one page, thus reducing the effort to stay observationally connected to friends.  Twitter is no different, while each tweet may be meaningless, one person’s stream gives a peak into what is going on with them, what the pattern of their life is.

It is a great piece and I encourage the audience here to read it and if not participating on Facebook or Twitter, thinking about joining.  It’s always intimidating at first, but it gets better (and addictive).  And who knows, it may help you better pitch that writer you’ve been after for your client!